Date: 05-18-2001

Case Style: Galvez v. Fields

Case Number: B125543

Judge: Vogel

Court: Court of Appeal of California - Second Appellate District - Division Four

Plaintiff's Attorney: Stanley K. Jacobs and Marian H. Tully of Jacobs, Jacobs & Rosenberg, Los Angeles, California

Defendant's Attorney: John J. Weber of O’Flaherty, Cross, Martinez & Ovando, Woodland Hills, California

Description: This is a medical malpractice case in which Nathaniel Galvez sues defendant Michael Frields, M.D., for wrongful life, contending that Frields failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure Nathaniel’s mother, Michelle Sepulveda, was given a blood test to detect the presence of the neural tube defect from which Nathaniel suffers. Plaintiff filed this action against Frields and several other defendants.1 Following a trial during which the trial court refused to give a jury instruction on negligence per se (BAJI No. 3.45), the jury found that Frields was not negligent in his care of Sepulveda. Nathaniel appeals and asserts as the sole claimed error the trial court’s refusal to give the negligence per se instruction. We conclude that the court erred in refusing to give the proffered instruction. * * * Click here for the full text of this opinion.

Outcome: Such error was clearly prejudicial, and we therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.

Plaintiff's Experts: Unknown

Defendant's Experts: Unknown

Comments: None